Positive expressive writing as a tool for alleviating burnout and enhancing wellbeing in teachers and other full-time workers

Round, Emil, Wetherell, Mark, Elsey, Vicki and Smith, Michael (2022) Positive expressive writing as a tool for alleviating burnout and enhancing wellbeing in teachers and other full-time workers. Cogent Psychology, 9 (1). p. 2060628. ISSN 2331-1908

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2022.2060628

Abstract

Teachers are an occupational group particularly prone to suffering from burnout, a condition caused by chronic stress from work overload. Burnout is a risk factor for adverse psychological and physical health, thus it is important to test the efficacy of tools and techniques for alleviating burnout and enhancing job satisfaction. One potentially suitable technique is positive expressive writing. In the present study, we investigated the effects of a positive writing intervention on burnout, job satisfaction, anxiety, perceived stress and self-reported physical symptoms and compared these effects in teachers and other full-time workers.A group of teachers (n = 35) and a group of non-teachers (n = 31) who worked full-time in other professions were randomly allocated to complete either three consecutive days of positive expressive writing, or writing about a more neutral topic, online, 20 minutes per day, for three consecutive days State anxiety declined to a greater extent for participants in the positive writing condition compared to the neutral writing condition. Positive writing also conferred benefits on some aspects of job satisfaction, but not burnout. There were no specific benefits for teachers compared to non-teachers. The present study is the first to observe that positive expressive writing may be a useful technique for enhancing job satisfaction in full-time workers.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Burnout; Job Satisfaction; Teachers; Expressive Writing; Employee Wellbeing; State Anxiety
Subjects: C800 Psychology
L900 Others in Social studies
X100 Training Teachers
X900 Others in Education
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 05 Apr 2022 10:52
Last Modified: 28 Apr 2022 08:30
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/48816

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